A new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) provides analysis of the results of its research on mobile phone operating systems and brands for the calendar quarter that ended December 31, 2018.

This analysis features findings about market share trends in mobile phone operating systems and brands in the US from October-December, 2018. CIRP research shows that the two major mobile operating systems, Google Android and Apple iOS, enjoyed their highest loyalty rates measured to-date.

In the December 2018 quarter, Android accounted for 62% of US activations and iOSaccounted for 37%.

Josh Lowitz, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP: "Apple launched its new phones in the fall, so iOS historically has a higher market share in the December quarter. Looking at the past five December quarters, we see that Apple has not matched the high of the 2014 iPhone 6/6 Plus launch in the past four years. Apple’s 37% share this year was slightly below the 39% in the December 2017 quarter, which is consistent with Apple’s own announcement of softer sales in the December 2018 quarter."

Both Android and iOS improved loyalty, measured as percent of activations with the same operating system. Both operating systems exceeded 90%, with Android at 92% and iOS at 91%.

Mike Levin, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP: "Loyalty hit the highest levels we’ve ever measured. Both systems have seen loyalty trending upward for the past several quarters, as customers have become comfortable with the features and consistency of their operating system. Learning a new operating system takes effort, so fewer and fewer customers have found the need to switch. This, coupled with the quality and reliability of new phones is likely contributing to the longer upgrade cycles we are witnessing."

The timing of the CIRP report coincides with Google's Marketing VP Marvin Chow tweeting out their switcher message to iOS fans below about the superiority of its Pixel 3 camera shots in low lighting versus Apple iPhone XS.

Will it make a dent with iPhone users? It's highly unlikely at this stage of the game as the stats prove out. They'd be better off focusing their switcher ads vs another Android phone maker. Pixel 3 sales in the U.S. are really poor.